▪ I. cot, n.1
(kɒt)
Also 5–9 cott.
[OE. cot neut. (pl. cotu), in Lindisf. Gosp. also ? cott (dat. cotte, cottum) = MDu. cot (infl. cōte), Du. kot, MLG. and mod.LG. kot; also ON. kot (infl. koti) neut.:—OTeut. type *kuto{supm}. Beside this is found in same sense OE. cote (see cote) = MDu. cōte, MLG. and mod.G. kōte (kothe) wk. fem., also sometimes in MLG. and Ger. dial. wk. masc. The form with tt found in Northumbrian is also in Rhenish dialects of G. from 14th c. kotte, but the gemination is not original, and merely marks the short vowel.
From the same root came OE. c{yacu}te, céte, prop. c{iacu}ete cot, cell, chamber (whence app. ME. chete):—OTeut. *kautjôn-, in which kaut- is in ablaut relation to kut-.]
1. A small house, a little cottage; now chiefly poetical, and connoting smallness and humbleness, rather than the meanness and rudeness expressed by hut.
In OE. used more widely for ‘cottage, house, bed-chamber, den’. Sparingly represented in ME., in which cote and, later, cottage were more frequent terms. Cote in this sense having become obs., or merely dial., about 1625, cot has been revived as a poetical and literary term.
| c 893 K. ælfred Oros. iii. ix. §17 æt ham æt heora cotum. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Luke xi. 7 Cnæhtas mino mec mið sint in cotte [c 975 Rushw. Gosp. cote; Vulg. cubili]. Ibid. Luke xii. 3 Þæt in eare sprecend ȝie woeren in cottum [c 975 Rushw. Gosp. in cotum; Vulg. in cubiculis]. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt xxi. 13 Witodlice ȝe worhtun þæt to þeofa cote [c 1160 Hatt. Gosp. to þeof-coten]. a 1225 Ancr. R. 362 We ne mei nout, wiðuten swink, a lutel kot areren. a 1325 Song Poor Husbandm. in Pol. Songs (Camden) 152 Seththe y counte ant cot hade to kepe. c 1450 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 576/2 Cotagium, a cotage, or a cot. 1635 Quarles Embl. iii. xii. (1718) 174 Poor cots are ev'n as safe as princes halls. 1697 Dryden Virg. Eclog. ii. 36 O leave the noisie Town, O come and see Our Country Cotts, and live content with me! 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 259 Huts or cots of the mountaineers. 1748 Thomson Cast. Indol. ii. vi, Did to a lonely cott his steps decoy. 1807 Crabbe Par. Reg. i. 129 To every cot the lord's indulgent mind Has a small space for garden-ground assign'd. 1849 E. E. Napier Excurs. S. Africa I. 178 A few humble fishermen's cots. 1884 Gustafson Found. Death ii. (ed. 3) 33 In cot as well as castle. |
2. A small erection for shelter or protection, as for sheep, a bell, etc.; = cote 2. Also in comb. as bell-cot, sheep-cot.
| c 1450 Nominale in Wr.-Wülcker 730 Hec caula, schepcot. Ibid., Hec barcaria, i. ovile, a schepcott. 1804 J. Duncumb Hist. Hereford Gloss., Cot, a barn for folding sheep. 1870 F. R. Wilson Ch. Lindisf. 66 Lucker church [has] a cot for one bell placed on the western gable. |
3. A case or protecting covering; a finger-stall; the covering of a drawing-roller in a spinning frame, etc. Now dial or techn.
| 1617 Moryson Itin. iii. i. ii. 21 In Moscovy..men..in time of snow, weare a cot or couer for their noses. 1828 Webster, Cot..a leathern cover for a sore finger. 1840 Spurdens Suppl. Forby (E.D.S.), Cot, a case for a wounded finger. |
4. Comb. (In OE. cot occurred in numerous compounds; later combinations often vary with cote-, and more recently cot- appears to be used as a contraction for cottar and cottage.) cot-folk, cote-folk Sc., cottars, cottar-folk; cot-garth dial. (see quot.); cots-work, domestic work (cf. cot n.5). Also cot-house, cotland, -er, cotlif, cotman, cotset, cotsetla, cot-town.
| 1786 Burns Twa Dogs 69 What poor cot-folk pit their painch in, I own it's past my comprehension. 1795 T. Pownall Antiq. Romance 157 As to the home or cots-work, that was done by the women and children of the family. 1876 Robinson Whitby Gloss., Cotgarth, a small ground enclosure attached to a cottage. |
▪ II. cot, n.2 dial.
(kɒt)
Also 6 cotte, 7 cote.
[ME. and AFr. cot; Godefroy has, app. for the same thing, in OF. (1410) the derivative coterel, pl. coteriaulx, ‘en oster [i.e. des laines] suing, gars, crotins, esconssures et coteriaulx’, and says that cotteron is now, in the arrondissement of Vervins, hard and matted wool used for mattresses.
Possibly identical with med.L. cottum, cotum, ‘bed-quilt, stuffed mattress,’ this being a purpose to which ‘cot’ was applied. Cf. Statut. Antiq. Cartus in Du Cange s.v. ‘Cotum vel coopertorium de grossis ovium pellibus’. Cottum, again, is identified with ONF. coute, coete, OF. coilte, coite, mod.F. couette, quilt.]
1. Wool matted or felted together in the fleece.
| [1357 Act 31 Edw. III, c. 8 Et que nul Marchant nautre qi achate laines face autre refuys des laines que ne soleit estre fait devant ces heures; cest assavoir de Cot, Gare vileine tuson. 1389 Act 13 Rich. II, c. 9 Que nulle deinzein ou forein ne face autre refus de leynes sinoun cod gard et vilein.] 1471 Acta Audit. 18 (Jam.) Ij sek of gude woll, but cot or ter. 1531–2 Act 23 Hen. VIII, c. 17 §1 No maner person..[shall] winde..within any fleesse..tailes, decepteful lockes, cotte, calles, combre, lambes wolle, or any other thinge. 1607 J. Cowell Interpr., Cote is a kind of refuse wolle clung or clotted together. 1791 Hamilton Berthollet's Dyeing II. ii. iii. vi. 209 Throw a small handful of cot or refuse wool into the boiler. 1877 E. Peacock N.W. Linc. Gloss., Cot, a sheep's fleece that has become matted together during growth. [So in N. Linc., Leicestersh., and W. Somerset Glossaries.] 1885 F. H. Bowman Struct. Wool Gloss. 352 Cots, matted locks of wool forming a hard felt in the fleece. 1888 Addy Sheffield Gloss., Cots, knotted wool from sheep. |
2. A confused entangled mass; a tangle: esp. applied in some districts to seaweeds or confervæ, that accumulate in pools, drains, etc.
| 1851 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XII. ii. 295 The internal drains [in Linc. fens] are..kept remarkably clear from weeds and cot. 1881 Leicestersh. Gloss., Cot..any confused heap, tangle, or matting of hair, string, cotton, etc. 1884 S. W. Linc. Gloss. s.v., ‘The roots were all of a cot.’ ‘The corn had grown that length, and was all of a cot.’ |
▪ III. cot, n.3 Irish.
(kɒt)
Also 6 cote, 6–7 cott.
[Irish and Gaelic cot a small boat (O'Reilly, Macleod and Dewar): cf. also Irish coit coracle, small boat (O'Reilly).]
A small roughly-made boat, used on the rivers and lakes of Ireland; a ‘dug-out’.
| 1537 Stat. Ireland (1765) I. 161 Boates, scowts, wherries, clarans, cottes, and other vessels. 1586 J. Hooker Girald. Irel. II. 161/2 They tooke a bote or a cote trough, which could not hold aboue eight or ten persons at a time. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. vi. 9. 1611 Markham Countr. Content. i. x. (1668) 59 A little Boat or Cot, if you Angle in great Waters, to carry you up and down to the most convenientest places for your pastime. a 1650 G. Boate Nat. Hist. Ireland 64 (T.) They call, in Ireland, cots, things like boats, but very unshapely, being nothing but square pieces of timber made hollow. 1807 Sir R. C. Hoare Tour Ireland 106 Numerous cots employed in catching salmon. 1862 Lever Barrington vii, One of those light canoe-shaped skiffs—cots as they are called on these rivers. |
▪ IV. cot, n.4
(kɒt)
Also 7–9 cott.
[Anglo-Indian, ad. Hindī khāṭ bedstead, couch, hammock, bier (:—Prākrit khaṭṭā, Skr. khaṭwā). In Anglo-Indian use from early part of 17th c.; thence it passed into naval use, whence to a child's swing-cot.]
1. Anglo-Ind. A light bedstead; a charpoy.
| 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 149 The better sort sleepe upon Cots, or Beds two foot high, matted or done with girth-web. 1685 W. Hedges Diary Bengal, etc. 29 July (Y.), I hired 12 stout fellows..to carry me as far as Lar in my cott [Palankeen fashion]. 1699 W. Dampier Voy. II. iii. iv. 41 In the East Indies..Men take their Cotts or little Field-Beds, and put them in the Yards, and go to sleep in the Air. 1776 Trial Nundocomar 32/2 Dr. Williams had informed him that Gungabissen might be brought into court on a cott. 1824 J. B. Seeley Wond. Ellora iii. (Y.), I found three of the party insisted upon accompanying me the first stage, and had despatched their camp-cots. 1886 Yule Anglo-Ind. Gloss. s.v., In Northern India..Cot..is not in such prevalent European use as it formerly was, except as applied to barrack furniture, and among soldiers and their families. |
2. A portable bed, or one adapted for transport.
| 1854 J. L. Stephens Centr. Amer. (1854) 306 Every man in that country has a small cot called a catre made to double with a hinge, which may be taken down and wrapped up, with pillows and bed clothes in an oxhide to carry on a journey. |
3. Naut. A sort of swinging bed for officers, sick persons, etc. on board ship, made of canvas, stretched at the bottom by a rectangular frame, and suspended like a hammock from the beams.
| 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789), Cott, a particular sort of bed-frame, suspended from the beams of a ship, for the officers to sleep in. 1798 Nelson in Nicolas Disp. (1845) III. 209 Sailmakers making cots for the Royal Family. 1811 A. Fisher Jrnl. Arctic Reg. p. x, We were also provided with standing bed-places, which were deemed to be warmer than cots, or hammocks. 1833 Marryat P. Simple xxix, Our captain..was put in his cot, and never rose from it again. |
4. a. A small bed for a child; properly, one suspended so as to swing between uprights; a swing-cot; also frequently applied to a ‘crib’ or four-legged bed-stead with sides to prevent the child from falling out.
| 1818 Todd, Cot, or Cott, a small bed; a cradle, as it is yet called in the north of England. 1819 Pantologia, Cott..the name is now often given to swing-cradles for children. 1856 Mrs. Browning Poems, Tears, The babe weeps in its cot. 1890 Furnisher's Catalogue, Swing cot, perforated sides, with half tester. Patent swing-fold cot, can be readily folded into a thickness of 3 inches. |
b. A bed in a children's hospital. Also (U.S.), a bed or wheeled stretcher of a type used in hospitals. Cf. cot-case below.
| 1874 ‘H. Churton’ Toinette xxxv. 359 Some are sitting up in their cots gazing out upon the fair scene below. c 1884 Tennyson In Children's Hospital iv, Here is the cot of our orphan. 1891 Low's Handbk. Charities London 50 An Infirmary for sick children, containing twelve cots. 1892 Daily News 31 Mar. 5/4 The endowment of a cot in the Victoria Hospital for Children at Chelsea, which the Princess of Wales has named after her late son. a 1922 C. C. Andrews Recoll. (1928) 202 It was while lying ill on my cot at Galveston that I decided to join the Republican party. |
5. attrib. and Comb., as cot-bed, cot-frame; cot-case, a person sufficiently ill to be confined to bed; cot-death, the unexplained death of a baby in its sleep.
| 1856 Olmsted Slave States 614, I was informed that I must get up, that the servants might remove the cot arrangement, and clear the cabin for the breakfast-table. |
| 1836 S. G. Perkins in Proc. Mass. Hist. Soc. (1886) 2nd Ser. II. 385 At the entrance of the cabin hung a cot-bed, in which the mate usually slept. 1838 J. H. Ingraham Burton II. xi. 175 A narrow cott bed, with a military cloak thrown over it, constituted the sole furniture of the warrior's abode. 1892 A. C. Gunter Miss Dividends 177 She goes up to her room, where she finds a clean cot-bed. 1921 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 2 Oct. 30/5 He is making the journey on a cot bed. |
| 1897 Daily News 23 Mar. 7/3 Altogether 35 patients were received, 22 being cot cases. 1924 P. Creswick Beaten Path xxvii. 150 To come here on an ambulance and be carried in, a regular right-down cot-case. 1965 ‘M. Neville’ Ladies in Dark xiv. 139 Winnie looked a proper cot-case. |
| 1970 Guardian 11 May 4/5 ‘Cot death’ relates to children not known to be ill..who die unexpectedly. |
| 1799 Med. Jrnl. I. 459 They should..sleep in hammocks, or on cott-frames. |
▪ V. cot, n.5 Obs. or dial.
[In sense 2 contracted from or referring to cotquean 3; sense 1 may be more directly related to cot n.1 or its family.]
† 1. (See quot.) Obs.
| 1695 Kennett Par. Antiq. Gloss., Cotarius..the inhabitant of any country cot..Hence a country clown is now called a mere cot, as a citizen ignorant of country affairs, a mere cit. |
2. A man that does domestic or household work usually done by women; a ‘betty’; hence cot-betty (U.S.). Obs. exc. dial.
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Cot for Cotquean, a Man that meddles with Womens matters. 1711 Brit. Apollo III. No. 144. 3/1 He's a cot, Still dangling about in the Kitchen. 1860 Bartlett Dict. Amer., Cotbetty, a man who meddles in the woman's part of household affairs. 1869 Lonsdale Gloss., Cot, a man who interferes in the kitchen, a molly⁓coddle. 1877 E. Peacock N.W. Linc. Gloss., Cot, a man or boy who cooks or does other womanly work. [So in Glossaries of Cheshire, Cleveland, etc.] |
▪ VI. cot, v.1
(kɒt)
[f. cot n.1]
1. intr. ‘To cohabit, to dwell with one in the same house’ (Jamieson).
2. trans. To put up (sheep) in a ‘cot’ or sheepcote; to keep under shelter during inclement weather. Hence ˈcotting vbl. n.
| 1804 J. Duncumb Hist. Hereford Gloss., Cotting, folding sheep in a barn. 1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. (1807) II. 676 This breed [of sheep]..requires cotting in the winter season. 1849 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. X. ii. 436 The system of cotting has the effect of causing the staple of the wool to be much finer. Ibid. XIV. ii. 456 They lamb in February..and are sometimes ‘cotted’. |
▪ VII. cot, v.2 dial.
[f. cot n.2]
To tangle, mat, or felt together. See also cotted ppl. a.)
| 1876 Rep. Vermont Board Agric. III. 213 A fleece..so destitute of oil that the ordinary exposure of the county would cause it to ‘cot’ on the sheep's back. 1881 Leicestersh. Gloss., Cot, to knot, tangle, mat together. 1884 S.W. Linc. Gloss. s.v., ‘Her tail cots so with the dirt’..‘The sheaves are quiët green and cotted’..‘The wheat was all cotted together in the bags’. |
▪ VIII. cot, v.3 dial.
[f. cot n.5]
See quots.
| 1730–6 Bailey (folio), To Cott, is said of Men who are apt to intermeddle in such [domestic] concerns. 1855 Robinson Whitby Gloss., Cot, to do one's own household work. 1878 Dickinson Cumbrld. Gloss., Cot, to wait on a sick person; to saunter about home. |
▪ IX. cot
obs. f. coat, cut.